I think society would do well to recognize what some of those studies showed, rather than constantly trying to suppress it as a superficiality. Truth is that most human motivation, behavior, and cognition is really rather base and painfully simple, especially in the arena of romance.

Quote:

Researchers note that women perceive men with beards as having “the biological and social qualities that would enhance their value as husbands” and also consider them “more potent and more active, suggesting virility as well as physical attractiveness.” Additionally, female managers considered bearded men to be more competent. Male bosses, however, did not.

I liked this one. I'm not a beard man but I do furnish a trimmed scruff, and I would never go completely shaven for anyone. I can see guys over 40 doing it, because they need to look younger, but the tradition of doing it when you're under 40 to look "clean-cut," a tradition started with the Romans I believe, just doesn't seem manly. Sure if you have a really chiseled jaw you can get away with it, but most of us are complimented better by having the jaw defined by some scruff.

"Researchers have wondered why, if nature prefers well proportioned bodies and symmetrical faces, everyone is not beautiful? In other words, wouldn’t “ugly” people have been bred out of the population? The answer is that humans invented clothes and cosmetics to improve appearance."

lol, I didn't buy that one though. Reproduction is what matters, not possessing advantageous traits... ugly people breed just as much if not more than the good-looking. Plus attractiveness would disappear if everyone was hot, since there'd be no contradistinction.

The evidence is weak, but still it suggests that unattractive people have fewer offspring. Trickery helps perpetuate "ugliness," but genetic recombination and poor nutrition (in utero and until sexual maturation) also keep unattractiveness going. Actually, maybe the biggest factor is that some elements of male and female are at odds with each other. For example, a large chin on a woman is unattractive and (within reason) attractive on a man, so if he has a daughter and she inherits his chin....

^ It's a really interesting idea; I think there is indeed a disparity between the raw sexual urge to mate with the hyper-feminine or hyper-masculine (which produces 'ugly' offspring), and the more 'evolved' instinct to be attracted to mates with both traits. I think the latter is exemplified by the female idolization of stars that tend to have feminine features, e.g. Pitt, Clooney, etc, and the fact that hyper masculine men don't tend to go much farther than being in action films. For men, I think we can agree that sex with tiny petite chicks is usually awesome, but whether or not it's good for our hypothetical son to have a mom who's 4'9'' and 70lbs is another question. This is why I think the male ideal is instead the tall, lanky chick, who, despite requiring praying-mantis-like sex to get off with, tends to produce attractive offspring of both genders.

^ It's a really interesting idea; I think there is indeed a disparity between the raw sexual urge to mate with the hyper-feminine or hyper-masculine (which produces 'ugly' offspring), and the more 'evolved' instinct to be attracted to mates with both traits. I think the latter is exemplified by the female idolization of stars that tend to have feminine features, e.g. Pitt, Clooney, etc, and the fact that hyper masculine men don't tend to go much farther than being in action films. For men, I think we can agree that sex with tiny petite chicks is usually awesome, but whether or not it's good for our hypothetical son to have a mom who's 4'9'' and 70lbs is another question. This is why I think the male ideal is instead the tall, lanky chick, who, despite requiring praying-mantis-like sex to get off with, tends to produce attractive offspring of both genders.

I'm not quite sure you understand exactly what happens when a praying mantis has sex (hint: it does not end well for Mr Mantis).

lol, I forgot about that. Well, I meant in the sense that sex with lanky chicks involves lots of limbs everywhere and awkwardly mounting torsos that can be as long as the dudes. We can't just grab and plow like with petite girls.